. This is a discussion on Tata Zest vs Honda Amaze vs Maruti Dzire vs Hyundai Xcent vs Ford Figo Sedan within Indian Auto Sector. Part of The Auto Talk category; I think the decision maker at Tata is getting paid by competitors.
So sad that when Zest was showing the ...

FORD FIGO ASPIRE AND FIGO HATCHBACK CAUGHT, DIFFERENT INTERIORS ON BOTH

Ford Figo’s hatchback and sedan both will have different interiors. One of our readers managed to click a few images of both the hatchback and the sedan. The Figos are similar to the Ka hatchback and sedan as in Brazil. The new thing that we learnt today is that the Figo hatchback has the interiors similar to that of the current Ecosport and the Fiesta, while the Figo sedan gets a new set of interiors. Our sources mentioned that the Figo and Figo Aspire were going for a round of testing to other countries

CarToq sources reveal that Tata Motors will soon launch a top-end variant of the automated manual transmission equipped Zest compact sedan. Available in a single XMA variant thus far, the AMT equipped Zest is a major differentiating factor for the compact sedan in its category. By adding the XTA, top-end variant to the Zest’s variant line up, Tata Motors will seek to attract buyers who want both the automatic transmission functionality as well as a feature loaded car in a single package. Bookings for the Zest XTA will soon be open and deliveries will start in two months’ time.

In terms of the new features that the Zest XTA will offer buyers, the Harman touch screen audio system will be standard, along with 5 inch speakers that offer better audio output. Twin airbags, reverse parking sensors and alloy wheels will be the other additions on the car, whose mechanicals will carry on unchanged. The 1.3 liter Fiat Multijet diesel engine with a variable geometry turbocharger powers the car, which makes 90 Bhp-200 Nm. The 5 speed automated manual transmission module is sourced from Magneti Marelli, and the entire component is imported from Italy as Tata Motors is yet to localize this part.

The Zest XTA variant will be priced at 8.07 lakh rupees, ex-showroom Delhi, thus becoming the most expensive variant of the compact sedan. The new variant commands an 82,000 rupee premium over the XMA trim. The car is now available in 10 variants, 2 in AMT trim, 4 in petrol and 4 in diesel. The petrol engined variants use the 1.2 liter REVOTRON turbocharged motor, with 88 Bhp-140 Nm outputs. The Zest is the only car in its class to offer a turbocharged petrol engine, which is also the most powerful one in its segment. The base diesel variant of the car gets a lower powered, fixed geometry turbocharger equipped 1.3 liter engine, with 75 Bhp-190 Nm outputs.

After compiling the numbers, it is obvious that the overall Passenger Car despatches from Tata Motors were lower in April'15. I don't know the reason. It could be anything from more number of holidays or planned shutdown of plants. Have a look at the numbers:
Indica+Vista volumes dropped from 3746 to 2652 M-o-M.
Indigo CS volumes dropped from 3188 to 2165 M-o-M.
Zest+Bolt volumes dropped from 3771 to 2622 M-o-M.

So the fall in volumes is clearly not model specific. We could see volumes jumping back to levels higher than in March'15 in the current month.

So, Xcent takes lead from Amaze !!! something seems wrong here, earlier sales of Amaze was almost double that of Xcent, and now Xcent is almost the same, while Amaze dropped almost 75%

Guess that has more to do with Honda's strategy here. I guess they are dispatching a lot of Amazes in one month and very less the next. This trend has been seen in many months. Moreover, if you see in March Honda dispatched 22.5k cars which is much more than their maximum installed capacity. That means - they have cleared the stock from previous FY. April the total dispatch was only around 12.5k which is much lesser than their capacity. 2 reasons for this.

1. March dispatches already lying at dealership and that has to be cleared before producing and sending in newer batches.
2. Honda is altering it's production line for Indian Jazz and probably is building the stock for a July launch. Seeing Honda's current capacity, they will not be able to produce more than 2.5k Jazz per month, which IMO will result in a huge wait time. So they will make around 8k Jazzs even before they launch.

We will have to observe a couple of month's more to prove my theory though.

IMO, Honda has wonderful and also very reliable products in Indian market and surely have potential to become as successful as Maruti in Indian market.. only if they realize value conscious Indian customers will not pay a premium price JUST for the sake 'Honda' badge or 'Japanese' image. All Honda car including Amaze, Brio, City and Mobilio carry a premium which is main deterrent for the customers.

IMO, Honda has wonderful and also very reliable products in Indian market and surely have potential to become as successful as Maruti in Indian market.. only if they realize value conscious Indian customers will not pay a premium price JUST for the sake 'Honda' badge or 'Japanese' image. All Honda car including Amaze, Brio, City and Mobilio carry a premium which is main deterrent for the customers.

Well Dhana, the premium has been a deterrent only for Brio and Mobilio. City has been almost unbeatable since launch and Amaze has been selling consistently and holding Spot 2 for most of the months. City has a cult following + it offers so many features and a lot of segment firsts. Amaze has a decent diesel engine with a very good city drivability - something Honda never had before. No wonder these two sells well.

What it proves is, premium price for nothing is the actual deterrent. Brio is essentially a small car - to be compared with Grand i10 at max and it being priced alongside Swift is not going to be taken too well. With the absence of diesel motor and quirky looks - the deal was sealed.

Mobilio again has a lot of features missing compared to Ertiga and there is not much additional space as well. So, why the premium?? When Ertiga is selling 4k+ units every month, it is actually surprising Mobilio sold 2k+ units many months.

After Comparing few AT diesel cars with MT cars price here i found few things when Maruti Launched its first Automated Manual Transmission Car in india every one said that AMT's are much cheaper then Convenstional AT cars but after comparing few diesel AT cars with one diesel AMT price i found that AMT is not cheap like CVT

So after observing three different types of Automatic Transmission cars they price difference between AMT and CVT system seems almost same look at price difference of TATA ZEST XT & XTA is 77k and price difference of Verna SX & SX AT is 71k only

Is really TATA Motors charging more for AMT kit in zest or diesel AMT kit cost more then Convensional CVT system then whats the logic in using this system